


sometimes, just walk away

by ser_atlantisite



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Established Relationship, Fluff, Healthy Coping Mechanisms, Healthy Relationships, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, because our leading lady is making progress dammit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 04:58:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16825597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ser_atlantisite/pseuds/ser_atlantisite
Summary: 'How I think Diamond could be introduced to the show' was where this started but then the characters made up their own minds on how this went.





	sometimes, just walk away

Juno came up for air like a sailor dragged into the sea, Peter’s forehead pressed to his. That kiss left him so out of breath he was seeing stars. He could hear, feel his thief panting just as hard as he was. Long fingers danced from the back of his neck, down to his collar bone and under the neck of his shirt.

“No, Peter I... hah - I have to go to the office and then,” he pressed an open mouthed kiss to Peter’s throat, dragging in cologne instead of the air he needed, “the precinct. And I just put these clothes on.”

“Mmmhm, such a shame that was,” Peter murmured into his temple, breathless. “That case is over, love. The paper work can wait.”

“One errand, ok? Just the one and then we can grab something to eat and then...” he let the sentence trail off so he could pull Peter back in for another kiss.

If they weren’t so distracted, one might have made a joke about just having the other for dessert instead.

Juno dragged them both clumsily backwards, free hand blindly reaching for the front door. Peter's grip on his coat kept them in step, kept him standing as he tripped over something, kept Juno in range of those lips devouring his own, _So goddamn soft_.

They bumped into the wall and Juno moaned, melting into his chuckling thief. 

What few brain cells weren’t consumed by the feeling of _Peter_ on him, against him, _pressing him to the wall_ , were searching in vain for the door’s key-pad. He found something that felt like the right shape and pushed it.

Something beeped angrily at them.

Was that right?

He pulled at Peter's hair enough so he could turn and look at the door hidden on his blind side. Those warm, soft lips did not let up one moment, trailing along his jaw and throat. If he could just get the stupid door open... He smacked the right button and the little light just flashed and beeped at him again.

"What the hell now," he muttered, sounding far more breathless than cranky. That piqued Peter's attention enough that he paused and glanced over at the digital locks.

"Problem?"

"Rita locked the damn doors remotely again."

The thief hummed. "Oh dear," -he kissed Juno's cheek- "I guess we'll just have to" -one to his detective's nose- "play inside today," -and one, long and decadently slow, back to his favorite pair of lips.

It took the hand in Peter's hair, and sliding Juno's other one literally between their mouths, to maneuver the thief back to where Juno could level a proper glare at him. "What did you do?"

Peter chuckled against a scarred hand. "Nothing, I promise." His voice was muffled, his mouth tickled Juno's palm. "I wasn't even aware she could hack our home like this. She'll have to give me the access codes for that little trick."

"Yah, you and me both," Juno huffed. He slipped out sideways so he had more room to breathe, though not far enough he couldn't feel Peter's warmth, and pulled out his comms. "It's bad enough she does this when she decides I'm sick..."

Long arms wound around him from behind, a chin resting on his shoulder. "You have been looking tense lately, my darling. Perhaps a day off is just what the doctor ordered," he breathed into that spot behind Juno's ear.

"If I don't bring that evidence to Khan, he _will_ kill me." The office voicemail message played in Juno's other ear after barely one ring. "Dammit Rita." He started dialing her personal comms and gestured to the door. "Think you can work your magic and get us out of here? Please?"

"For you, my love, consider it done." Peter kissed Juno again and moved in-front of the door. He pulled out a device that looked enough like a comms that Juno wouldn't look at it twice, and started passing it along the wall above the digital lock.

" _Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! This is RITA -_ " Juno clicked it off before the message burst his eardrums. He tried the office again, waiting through the answering machine message he really needed to put back to something professional.

Juno tried to keep his voice even. "Rita, seriously, I'm starting to worry. Answer the damn call, or call me back or something. Now." He hung up and leaned the comms against his forehead, trying to think.

"Any luck, mister super thief?"

Peter was frowning at his device. "Remind me to compliment Rita on her programming skills. This is quite the rats nest of a system. Very effective."

"Meaning?"

"It may be faster to carve a hole in the wall."

"Seriously?"

"Worry not, my dearest, only the foolhardy approach a problem from an angle they are outclassed in. I can simply disable the entire lock." The digital lock-pick went back into his pocket, and out came what looked an awful lot like a bomb diffusal kit that he set on the floor. Peter winked at Juno and began unscrewing the face plate of the lock.

"Will I have to replace the entire thing later?"

Peter paused. "...Not necessarily," he said, looking up from under long lashes.

Juno just sighed. "Whatever. Just do it. Do you have a burner comms I can borrow?"

A slim comms unit appeared from Peter's sleeve and was held out for him to take. Juno typed the office's number from memory and waited. Something might have been screening his number, but caller ID wouldn't show anything for this hopefully legally-acquired comms. If Rita didn't answer this call, Juno really was going to start worrying.

It made it through two whole rings this time.

" _Hello? Steel detective agency._ ” It was her, really her, but nowhere near as manic as Rita was supposed to sound. “ _We're, uh, closed today, but can I take a message?_ "

"Its me. What do you mean closed? Why can't I unlock --"

_"Oh Mistah Steel, so good of you to call me from your vacation far far away from Mars."_

"Rita what --"

" _It's sweet of ya to call and check up on little old me considerin' you won't be back for another whole month but don't worry everything here is fine,_ ” she said, much too even and measured, like when she was trying to slow walk him to some convoluted plot point in a stream.

Dammit. She really needed to doodle something to remember their proper codes for things like 'lunatic has a gun on me, can't talk'. What the hell did any of this mean?

"Rita, is someone in the office with you?"

" _Yes but don't worry, I'm directin' everyone who comes in to Detective Strong's agency, just like you asked me to when you went away for your long vacation far away. Standard procedure for everyone no matter who - hey don't --_ " there was a beep, and a digital voice announced that speaker mode was now on, "-- _DARE touch anything on my desk, you --_ "

" _Juno? Is that really you?_ "

A voice he hadn’t heard in over a decade, since he was still a cop, made every lingering scrap of warmth leave him.

Oh.

Oh, no.

Distantly he could hear Rita chewing Diamond out for _touching her stuff, and for bothering Mistah Steel who was very much on vacation on a planet very far away, really, much too far to take a shuttle back anytime soon_.

He desperately wished he actually was.

That was when Peter cackled in triumph, so suddenly Juno jumped, and the door beeped and slid open. The doorway and hall beyond looked like the maw of some great creature, waiting to swallow him whole.

Peter leaned back on his heels, away from the mess of wires hanging out of the wall where the door lock used to be, and turned to grin up at Juno. His face was glowing, eyes shining and delighted smile showing all his teeth. But his gaze locked on Juno’s face and that light went out in a second. Worry folded in on his features and he stood.

 _What’s wrong?_ he mouthed, eyes flicking from Juno to the comms.

Juno opened his mouth but no words came.

He should have just let Peter drag him back into bed.

“ _I know you’re lying to me Rita. Just let me talk to --_ ”

He should have taken Khan yelling at him or fining him for obstruction of justice or something.

“ _Ain’t nothing he can do for you that Detective Strong can’t, so just --_ ”

Long fingers cradled the hand holding the comms, and twined around the other hanging limp at his side. Peter stood there, steadying him and watching him carefully. Trying to figure out what was wrong. Waiting for him.

“ _Juno, please, I know it’s been a while but I... I need your help._ ”

“Diamond,” he breathed into the receiver, so quiet he barely felt the word.

And then the comms beeped the end of the call.

It took a second, but he realized that he had ended the call. On purpose even. Sort of. Had that been the healthy thing to do? Or the cowardly one?

He looked up at Peter, still holding his hands. But his faced had settled into his neutral mask.

“That was...”

“Your ex-fiancee, yes. I am aware.” Peter’s voice was very carefully even. “At least Rita is alright, I suppose.” He leaned in slightly, eyes intent, concerned, searching Juno’s one, and Juno absurdly noticed a smear of mechanical grease on his nose.

Juno opened his mouth to say... _something_. What, he didn’t know, but what came out was a broken “ _Don’t leave me_.”

He slapped a hand over his mouth. He dropped his gaze, face burning, and tried to pull away but Peter folded around him, blocking out all the world except for his cologne and his hands and his heartbeat under Juno’s and his voice breathing a thousand assurances into Juno’s hair that he wasn’t really hearing, but pulled into himself all the same. Juno wasn’t crying, but he was shaking and Peter just held him as the world spun on around them.

Eventually he stopped shaking.

Eventually, he quieted the demons in his brain, screaming that Peter was going to leave him as soon as he took his eye off him. They didn’t shut up, but they at least settled into background noise.

Eventually, he noticed the growl coming from Peter’s stomach. Normally, the former street rat refused to let himself feel hungry for more than a minute, always had something on hand to snack on. But he made no move to leave his position around the detective, holding him closer instead. So Juno spoke up.

“We should get lunch,” he said into Peter’s jacket.

The thief kissed his head and pulled him closer still. “Where do you want to go?”

“Some place on Venus? Maybe Pluto?”

Peter laughed. “That sounds doable.”

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to leave this right where Juno said 'Diamond' bc i wanted to maybe pick it up again after we actually meet diamond, but then Juno noped right out of there and I was so proud of him for taking care of himself so I let it be
> 
> also have I mentioned that I think rita and diamond are like distant cousins at least?


End file.
